CCHF – which has no cure or vaccine – is endemic in Africa, India, China, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

But medics were alarmed when a Spaniard died after catching the disease from a tick near capital Madrid last month – the first casualty to catch the disease in western Europe.

Two other people suspected of contracting the virus have been placed in isolation.

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BLOODY HELL: CCHF causes internal bleeding

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“We are monitoring the international situation very closely”

Nick Phin

Symptoms usually start much like flu – with a fever, aching muscles, dizziness and a headache.

It then moves on through vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pain – while the patient often appears confused, tired and moody.

Next their heart starts to pound and internal bleeding causes a bloody rash on their skin.

Then – by day five – their kidneys, liver and lungs stop working and they die.

The parasites, which usually come over on migrating birds, can be found on animals, including tortoises, lizards, horse, cattle, hedgehogs – and dogs.

Hyalomma aegyptium – known as the “tortoise tick” – in particular likes to feed on dogs.

The number of dogs suffering tick bites in Britain has DOUBLED in a year, according to a report by The Big Tick Project earlier this month.

The vast majority of these will be other varieties of tick, but an estimated 90% are capable of carrying Lyme disease – which is also deadly.

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BLOOD-SUCKER: A tick attacks a dog

British tourists in Spain and the south of France are more at risk of catching CCHF at the moment – although health bosses said it was still “unlikely” as the ticks rarely bite people.

People who like hiking, gardening and golf are most at risk of picking up ticks – all of which are popular in summer and autumn.

A British man died in hospital in Glasgow in 2012 after catching CCHF in Afghanistan.

He is thought to have contracted the virus from an infected goat after taking part in its slaughter for a village wedding feast.

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Nick Phin, deputy director of Public Health England’s national infections service, told the Daily Star Online: “We are aware of the cases of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever in Spain and are monitoring the international situation very closely.

“Imported cases to the UK are very rare and we have excellent surveillance systems to detect such cases and robust infection control procedures in place in the event that a case is detected.

“The risk to the wider population is negligible as the tick that carries CCHF is not established in the UK and it cannot survive here.”

Cheryl Whitehorn, senior scientific officer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “Hyalomma ticks are found in southern France and Spain but the principal hosts in these countries are tortoises, lizards, wild birds, cows, donkeys, hares and foxes.

“Man is rarely bitten. It is extremely unlikely that a holidaymaker would acquire CCHF while visiting Spain.”